In a related study, cells grown in the laboratory from these cardiospheres
and injected into the hearts of mice following a lab-induced heart attack migrated straight to damaged tissue and regenerated,
improving the organ's ability to pump blood throughout the animal's body. Results
from both studies are to be presented Nov. 14 at the American Heart Association's annual Scientific Sessions in Dallas.

"The findings could potentially offer patients use of their own stem
cells to repair heart tissue soon after a heart attack, or to regenerate weakened muscle resulting from heart failure, perhaps
averting the need for heart transplants," says Eduardo Marb?n, M.D., Ph.D., senior author of both studies and professor and
chief of cardiology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart Institute. "By using a patient's own
adult stem cells rather than a donor's, there would be no risk of triggering an immune response that could cause rejection."In the first study, researchers took heart tissue samples from 10 patients age 20
to 80 who had recently received a heart transplant, and as part of their regular checkup to make sure the new heart was functioning
properly. Researchers grew these tissues for two weeks, collecting any cardiac stem cells that started to migrate out, and
then grew those loose cells with growth chemicals until they formed cardiospheres. After two weeks of growth, the cardiospheres
organized into structures consisting of at least two distinct, partially overlapping layers of cells. Cells in the center
of the cluster had properties most like cardiac stem cells, while cells on the surface had properties similar either to myocytes
(heart muscle cells with the ability to contract) or to cells that could develop into smooth muscle or blood vessel lining.

"We don't know yet the purpose or advantages of this organization,"
says study lead investigator Rachel Ruckdeschel Smith, a biomedical engineering graduate student at Hopkins.
"Cardiospheres represent an interesting model of early, test-tube heart cell development. They expressed common characteristics
of other cells while retaining a unique appearance."

In the second study, the research team grew adult heart tissue samples
to extract cardiac stem cells, which were then grown to create cardiosphere-derived cells. Researchers induced heart attacks
in 19 mice, injecting eight with the cells grown from cardiospheres, in doses of approximately 100,000 cells, while other
mice were injected with fibroblast placebo cells. The injections were made directly into the area bordering the site of the
heart attack, located in the left ventricle, the heart's main pumping chamber. They then measured the infusion and migration
of the cells at zero, eight and 20 days following injection to see what would happen.At day zero, cells were located at injection sites bordering the heart attack area, but at days eight and 20, cells
were mainly distributed within the area damaged by heart attack.

Researchers also studied the cells' function by injecting the mouse
hearts with either cardiosphere-derived cells, human skin cells or placebo cells 20 days after heart attack, then using ultrasound
echocardiography to measure the ability of the hearts to pump blood throughout the body. The hearts treated with cardiosphere-derived
cells performed an average of 15 percent to 20 percent better than those treated with either of the controls. "It was remarkable to see this improvement after only 20 days," says Lucio Barile, M.D., lead investigator
of the study and a cardiology research fellow at Hopkins.
"Human cardiosphere-derived cells migrated into the heart attack zone, partially replaced the scar and improved the heart's
function."

Further studies will look at the behavior of injected cardiosphere-derived
cells over a longer period of time, and to examine how these cells perform in larger mammals, such as pigs.

Enter supporting content here

Those who have a financial interest in the outcome manipulate the results, Major study finds that all 37 journal articles positive effects over stated; the average was 32%. Statins cause erectile
dysfunction, cognitive imparement, and cancer.

Vytorin, the
combination drug (simvastatin (better known by its commercial name Zocor) and ezetimibe--known as Zetia) prescribed to lower
cholesterol, sustained another blow today, when the author of a major clinical trial announced that the medication had failed
to drive down hospitalization and death due to heart failure in patients with narrowing of the aortic valve. In the process,
researchers in Norway detected a significant blip in cancers in the 1,800 subjects they followed

Today's findings
suggested something more ominous: the incidence of cancer -- and of dying of cancer -- was significantly higher in the patients
taking Vytorin. Altogether, 67 patients on placebo developed cancer during the trial.
Among subjects on Vytorin, 102 developed cancers of various kinds.*This
is the second adverse press—the first being in March 08, when the ENHANCE trial found that Vytorin fared no better than
a placebo at reducing plaque buildup on the walls of patients' arteries.* *

Comments
by jk

Simvastatin (Zocor) is off patent.Thus in a scramble for profits a combination drug (on patent) was introduced.Direct to consumer market cost $155 in 07—mainly TV ads.

*The pressing issue is that since the developmentof Statins, the very
first animal studies in the 60s it has been known that Statins increase the incidents of cancer.However, nearly all studies done thereafter have not included cancer.

*Several studies have failed to find a reduction in the build of plaque, even thought the statins including Zocor, reduce
LDL and cholesterol. Few studies include the
principle reason for taking a statin, namely a reduction in the death rate.Claims
for such reduction probably entail a failure to control the contravening variable, aspirin usage. Given a pile of evidence, including the very mechanism of plaque formation, which involves inflammation
process, I must conclude that the use of statins is highly suspect.Given the
harm done including cognitive impairment, weakness, and cancer, if my skepticism is born out, the harm done by statins as
a course of treatment will far surpass that of VIOXX which killed over 200,000 people world wide by accelerating atherosclerosis.

EXTENDED RELEASE NIACIN IS A SAFER, AND A MORE EFFECTIVE WAY TO LOWER
MI RISK!